


comfort food

by starkly



Series: you don't have to do this alone [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Chefs, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 09:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13385154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkly/pseuds/starkly
Summary: Tony and Rhodey run a restaurant based in molecular gastronomy. Pepper is a food critic and Tony's ex. Clearly the smartest thing for Tony to do is challenge her to review the restaurant, right?





	comfort food

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for NaNoWriMo 2017 and posted at [dailyironfamily](http://dailyironfamily.tumblr.com/post/167292399555/day-08-chef-au) on tumblr. This fic was proofread before being posted here but is otherwise unchanged.
> 
> Day eight: chef AU. This is mostly gen but would totally end in Pepper/Tony/Rhodey were it a full fic. (I'm sorry this is basically the plot of Ratatouille minus the rats.)

“She’s going to murder us, Rhodey,” Tony says, dragging his fingers down his face in horror and regret. “Why did we think this was a good idea?”

Sighing, Rhodey takes him by the shoulders and gently steers him to a chair. “First of all, calm down. Second of all, you’re the one who thought it was a good idea. You personally called her out on TV.”

Tony takes a few deep breaths, and Rhodey rubs a hand across his back. “Maybe we should cancel. She hates this ‘fakey science’ cooking. She would’ve left us alone if I hadn’t said anything.”

Rhodey sighs again, debating what to say to reassure him. Pepper Potts was the only food critic that Tony ever got all twisted up about, and it wasn’t even because she was absolutely ruthless in her reviews. No, Tony just had to go call out his ex-girlfriend because he’s apparently a masochist or something.

“You got the menu ready for tonight, right?” Tony asks before Rhodey can say anything. “Absolutely nothing with strawberries or strawberry extract.”

“Yes, Tones. Everything’s ready. No strawberries.”

Tony holds out a hand, saying, “Here, let me see it, I’ll make changes.”

Rhodey grabs his hand and squeezes. “ _No_  changes. It’s going to be fine.”

Tony huffs, then nods. “When the restaurant crashes and burns and we have to close down, I’m taking the Michelin star with me.”

Laughing, Rhodey helps him up, clapping him on the back. “I don’t think that’s how it works, but sure, take it.”

* * *

Piquant was Tony’s pet project, conceived initially just to piss off his father, but he’d pulled Rhodey in on it right away after years of it remaining only an idea. They built the place together, planned the menus together, vetoed each other’s ridiculous ideas (Rhodey still maintains that theme nights with costumes would be fun, but if that had to go in order to stop Tony’s ‘eat in total darkness’ idea then so be it). It was entirely unsurprising that Tony was spiraling into complete panic at the thought that Pepper Potts could tank their entire operation.

It’s a far cry from their time before, when he named a whole restaurant in reference to her.

Rhodey knew what Pepper was like, though. He enjoyed reading her reviews. She was honest with both praise and critique, and there was only ever one review of hers he disagreed with when he read it, so he’s pretty sure they have similar tastes. Rhodey loves Piquant’s food and he’s sure Pepper, even if she doesn’t love it, won’t write such a scathing review they have to shut down.

Still, that doesn’t stop the spike of nervousness he feels as he sees Pepper being led to her table by the hostess, he and Tony creeping by the doorway to the kitchen to watch.

“Maybe you should stay back here,” Rhodey suggests, but Tony’s already out the door and speed-walking across the restaurant.

“Ms. Potts, welcome back to Piquant!” he greets her cheerfully, and Rhodey hurries across the room to provide backup. “I wanted to make sure you had everything you need, answer any questions you had about the menu.”

“You can cut the crap, Tony,” Pepper says, perfectly manicured nails tapping against the menu. “Hello, Jim.”

Tony looks over at him, frowning slightly. “That’s forward.”

Rhodey rolls his eyes, though he gives Pepper a little wave. “We were judges together on that kids’ cooking competition, remember?”

“They let  _you_  judge a kids’ competition?” Tony asks Pepper, and Rhodey clears his throat and elbows him as inconspicuously as possible.

“As Tony was saying,” Rhodey interrupts before Tony can make things worse, “are there any questions we can answer for you?”

“Not at all,” Pepper answers, holding out the menu for one of them to take. “Surprise me.”

“Surprise you?” Rhodey repeats, staring at the menu for a moment.

“You heard me. Dealer’s choice.”

Tony takes the menu from her, a steely glint in his eye that Rhodey recognizes from anytime someone challenges Tony to anything. “Prepare to be amazed. We’ll have drinks and an appetizer sent out at once.”

He turns and heads right back into the kitchen, not even waiting for Rhodey to follow.

Rhodey stands there, watching the door swing shut after him. “He was real nervous about you showing up,” he tells Pepper quietly.

Pepper sighs, draping her napkin over her lap. “I couldn’t not, after he basically dared me to review the place.”

“Yeah, I know. He’s like that,” he says with a chuckle. Pepper smiles, and Rhodey’s a little surprised at how fond it is. “Well, I better get back there before he sets the kitchen on fire. Let any of the servers know if you need anything.”

Tony’s already hard at work by the time Rhodey gets back, giving orders to their sous chef and pulling ingredients out of the fridge and freezer.

“You’re ignoring my menu, aren’t you,” he asks, eyeing the ingredients Tony has gathered.

“Yep,” Tony says without hesitation, pointing at the counter next to him. “Now get over here and start sphere-ing.”

They start easy with the appetizer, several kinds of fruit and cocktail spheres, and Rhodey assumes Pepper will think them too simplistic, but she seems to enjoy trying the different flavors. He figures they’ll bust out the big guns with the main course, only for Tony to put together a saffron pappardelle dish, the noodles see-through and the Parmesan and shrimp caviar toppings perfect little spheres. Rhodey’s already putting together dessert when Tony walks back in from delivering the pasta, and he gives him a questioning look.

“This isn’t particularly ambitious stuff for you,” he says, picking up a hand towel and going over to talk to him. “Playing it safe at last?”

Tony shrugs, uncharacteristically quiet for once. “Just thought we should play to our strengths.”

One of the waiters calls out to Tony, drawing him away to discuss some problem, and Rhodey goes back to finishing up dessert. Once it’s done, he and Tony bring it out together, Rhodey setting it down in front of Pepper. She’s looking at them with an expression he can’t really parse, and it makes him nervous.

“Crème anglaise,” Tony says, with a small flourish of his hand. It looks frothy and light, bubbling up to the edge of the angled bowl. Rhodey’s pretty proud of it, even if he thinks angled bowls are dumb.

“Tony Stark, you are disgustingly sentimental,” Pepper says after a short pause, but she sounds, if anything, pleased by the statement. Catching Rhodey’s puzzled look, she explains,

“He recreated the first meal he cooked for me, but with all your fancy molecular crap.”

Rhodey looks at him in surprise, and Tony is actually sort of blushing. Rhodey doesn’t think he’s seen Tony blush in years.

“Rhodes did the dessert,” Tony blurts out to get the heat off himself.

Pepper raises an eyebrow, but she picks up her spoon and takes a taste. Rhodey feels like time has completely stopped as he waits for her verdict.

“Not bad, boys,” she says at last, giving them a smile. “I may even have to come back. Without the looming threat of a bad review.”

“I don’t trust you until the review’s out,” Tony says, but Rhodey laughs and throws an arm around his shoulders, pulling him into a side hug.

“We’d be glad to have you back,” he tells Pepper. “Maybe Tony’ll actually let me use my menu too.”

“Please,” Pepper says, still smiling. “I’d be happy to try it.”


End file.
